Silly Little Things Like These
by Zenelly
Summary: On the other side, Roxas traced Axel's mouth with tender fingers as he murmured in answer, "We are." Or, little moments that add up to them being together in the end. Happy AkuRoku Day!


**Disclaimer:**Nope. This one's not mine either, no infringement intended, blah blah blah.

**Author's Note: **HAPPY AKUROKU DAAAAY! And this accidentally turned into an AkuRoku sequel to _Mnemonic_, so, uh. Have at? It's a little disjointed, but I was/am really tired, so you get what you get. I'll go back and edit later.

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><p><strong>Silly Little Things Like These<strong>

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><p><em>Axel looks across the table at Roxas, a contented smile on his lips. Their feet tangle easily together in the space between their chairs, warm and comfortable in the familiar settings of their house.<em>

_Three years._

_"It seems like such a long time," he murmurs, not quite meaning for it to be heard._

_Roxas laughs anyway, and the noise still makes Axel's heart race. "Well, we _have_ had a longer time than most everyone else. We've had _two_ lives, after all."_

_"Mm, that's true. First one doesn't really count, though." At Roxas' confused look, Axel grins and continues. "We didn't even get to the fun stuff! No sex, nothing more than kissing, I mean, come on, Rox!"_

_Roxas laughs, shakes his head, rolls his eyes. "Ugh, you pervert."_

_His feet curl tighter around Axel's, and Axel's grin softens into a smile._

* * *

><p>"So… we're moving in together? Here? With you here too, that is."<p>

Zexion looked up impassively at them over his book, one eyebrow raise sardonically. "You say this like it's a surprise." Looking back down, he muttered, "Also like you haven't been nattering on about it for the last hour. You'd think that _one _of the two of you would have learned how to speak properly."

Axel's shoulders slumped. "You could at least _act_ surprised."

"Why? You've been moving your things around to accommodate him for two months now, and I don't think he's gone home very much in at least three." Zexion turned a page. "Really, Axel, you know I pay attention."

Roxas rolled his eyes, smiling and flushed. "Yeah, we know, Zexion."

A quiet smirk from his slate-haired roommate and Axel felt the beginning stirs of dread. Zexion bookmarked his page in his book with his finger and smiled serenely up at them. "Indeed. Which means that you two may want to consider soundproofing your room."

Roxas sputtered.

"You're quite loud."

Axel turned red, but a pleased glow flared beneath his sternum.

"And I really don't want to hear it. _Especially _the parts where Axel is attempting something kinky."

Biting his lip, Roxas darted a glance at Axel.

"Really, you'd think it'd get a little redundant to keep yelling 'Yes' over and ove- where are you two-? …oh." Zexion sighed again and grumbled as he grabbed his keys, shouting at Roxas's and Axel's closing door, "I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY."

On the other side, Roxas traced Axel's mouth with tender fingers as he murmured in answer, "We are."

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><p><em>"Ready for breakfast?" Axel stands up, shifting everything around the stove to start looking for the spatula.<em>

_Roxas darts up beside his lover, nudging him out of the way with a well-placed hip-bump. "Oh no, you don't. You can't cook anything without burning it, and I'm _not_ in the mood for well-done pancakes."_

_Axel leaned back against the counters, pouting. "Can I at least get the drinks?"_

_Laughing, Roxas goes up on his tip-toes and presses a kiss to the unhappy bend of Axel's mouth. "Yes, love, you can get the drinks."_

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><p>Roxas reared backwards, eyes wide. "What the hell was that?"<p>

Axel rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly nervous, though he hid it behind a challenging smirk. "That, Roxy, was a kiss. Come on, even you know that, right?"

The redhead was doubled over on the floor a few seconds later, though Axel brushed off Zexion's attempts to help him stand. "Ow, jesus!" he wheezed, hand covering his brutalized genitals. "Roxas, did you have to go for the dick?"

"I'm sorry!" Roxas squeaked, eyes wide. "I didn't-! I don't-! You-! You surprised me!"

Zexion's shoulders shook with suppressed laughter. Axel glared at him. Traitor. "I asked you out!"

"You lip-molested me!"

"I kissed you! You could've just said no!" Axel started laughing helplessly, because this? This was just like Roxas. Axel couldn't help but love him.

"…Does the dating offer still stand?"

"Of course, babe."

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><p><em>Axel stays well out of the way as Roxas cooks, hands tucked neatly behind his back to Roxas' amusement. The sounds of life start drifting in through their window, and Axel busies himself momentarily with watching the outside world wake up. People pass each other down below, waving at the people they know and avoiding the people they don't. They stop and chat, smiles wide and fond, and Axel wonders suddenly how Zexion's doing.<em>

_How he's handling the whole reincarnation thing._

_"What's the matter?"_

_Axel jerks himself out of his thoughts and blinks at Roxas. "Oh, just… I wish we had been there for Zexion, you know? He hasn't seen Demyx since…."_

_Roxas huffs out a sigh and nods. "Yeah, I know. But Demyx won't stay away for too long. And you know that Zexion's going to grab hold of him and never let him go again. Now sit down and enjoy our anniversary already."_

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><p><em>KNOCK.<em>

Pause.

_KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK._

Pause.

_!_

Grumbling, Axel staggered off of the couch (he has _got_ to stop sleeping on that damn thing. It was too damn uncomfortable) and headed blearily towards the door, running into several pieces of furniture along the way. Axel yawned as he answered the door with an incoherent, "'lo?"

"Was it you?"

Axel winced at the loud, insistent voice that demanded his attention at (he glanced out of half-opened eyes at the clock) seven-thirty in the goddamned morning, who the hell was even up this early? All he managed to mutter, though, was "What?"

"Roxas! Is this him?"

Roxas?

(Blond, small, blue eyes, beautiful, scared beyond all reason, but so, so beautiful.)

Axel opened his eyes, smiling. "Hey there, blondie."

"Axel," Roxas grudgingly responded, and a small part of Axel was stupidly pleased that he looked as rumpled and sleep-deprived as Axel felt. "How are you?"

"Pretty good. Why don't you and…" Axel trailed off and gestured at the brunette boy following him. "Your friend come inside?"

Roxas smiled up at him (Axel's heart stumbled and beat harder). "Don't mind if we do."

Stepping back to let him in, Axel whispered, "Don't leave" without knowing why, but the startled, fond, half-desperate glint in Roxas' eyes reassured him that he wasn't the only one.

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><p><em>Axel sits down at the table, holding up placating hands to Roxas. "I get it, babe, I get it. Sit down, think of nothing else besides your beautiful face. I can think of worse fates."<em>

_Roxas makes a contorted, grotesque faces and demands, "DO YOU LOVE ME NOW?"_

_(Axel laughs so hard that he knocks over his glass of orange juice.)_

_They laugh their way through breakfast, trading insults and endearments and kisses as frequently as they can. Eventually, though, Axel loses himself in just watching Roxas, tracing over his features with the care he didn't, couldn't, allow himself when they were in the Organization. _

_Roxas smiles at him, and Axel smiles back lopsidedly, happily._

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><p>The elevator had been out for a few minutes when Roxas' apparent calm snapped.<p>

"Fuck!" Roxas's voice quavered slightly and Axel heard the _thump_ of a fist hitting metal. "F-fuck, no, come on, open up!"

Sighing, Axel relaxed against the elevator wall, crossing his arms. "Hey, Roxas, calm down, okay? Getting all worked up isn't going to help you." The lean redhead cracked open one eye. Roxas was standing, back facing Axel, and his entire frame was shaking uncontrollably.

Axel felt a sudden surge of sympathy.

"So, hey, you know what?" he asked on impulse.

"What?" Roxas ground out, obviously trying to mask the terror in his voice. Axel opened both eyes to stare at the blank walls of the elevator, keeping a tab on Roxas out of the corner of his eyes.

"Last year, I set the bathrooms on fire at my dorm and blamed my roommate for it," he admitted.

Roxas' shaking paused briefly. The blond slowly turned around, eyes wide with fright, body tense, but Axel figured that the poor boy was desperate for any sort of distraction.

(He knew the signs of a panic attack. Saix used to stress himself to the point having them.)

With halting breaths, Roxas asked, "You what?"

"I hated him, at first." Axel sat down on the floor, stretching across the tile languidly. "Had just lost my best friend to a different college and I took it out on him. Tried to get either him or me kicked out. But then," Axel laughed, "he tied me to the bed while I was sleeping and he threatened me until I stopped doing it."

Roxas laughed slightly, sat down next to him, still shaking, but curious now. "Sounds like a good friend."

"Yeah, Zexion is." Axel grinned, crossing his arms behind his head.

Swallowing, Roxas pressed slightly closer, a panicked hunger in his eyes. Axel almost reached out to hug the poor boy, but he refrained. He was obviously just looking for a distraction.

"Tell me more."

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><p><em>The light streams in through the window, settling on Roxas's cheek with a softness that belies its warmth. Axel reaches out to touch the golden-lit skin, fingers gentle. Roxas smiles at him and turns his face to nuzzle the slender fingers, kissing their tips when in reach.<em>

_"Love you, babe."_

_Roxas' smile deepens._

_"Love you too, idiot."_

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><p>The second the conference got boring, Axel yawned. And kicked the seat in front of him. And sighed too loudly, smacked his lips obnoxiously, got whacked in the shoulder by Zexion for being a brat, and stood up and slunk out of the room, bored to tears. Seriously. Who cared about the proper usage of reflexive verbs? Or pronouns. Or whatever the hell it had been that they were prattling on about.<p>

Axel sighed and leaned back against the wall behind him. He shouldn't have come along tonight.

A glint of metal caught his eye, and Axel glanced over, tracing the elevator shaft from floor to ceiling, Cheshire Cat-like smile growing as he did.

With a quiet cackle, Axel scurried down to the elevator doors and eagerly punched the call button. He waited impatiently for it to arrive, almost shoving his way past the confused exiting passengers before tapping a random floor number. Axel rode the elevator up, watching the lobby floor shrink as he did, and the second the elevator doors dinged open, he raced out, long legs stretching into an easy rhythm as he ran to the set of stairs. Going upstairs, he ran back to the elevator lobby.

Well, here was something to occupy his time.

For a while, that satisfied him. Racing across the hallways, almost careening into people, panting into the glass of the elevator.

But then, the doors opened before the floor he had picked. Axel shrugged and started for the door, but he ran straight into someone else.

And Axel looked down, reached out his hand to the boy he just knocked over, his typical easy grin sliding from his face as he actually _saw_ the boy for the first time. Because, thank all the Heaven that Axel had never believed in, he was _beautiful_.

Bare seconds later, the grin slipped back on and Axel purred out a hello, asked for his name, because part of him was desperate and _needed to know_ because _what if he was wrong_ (though really, there was nothing for him to be wrong about) and _what if he wasn't really here?_

The boy ignored the proffered hand. Standing up under his own power, he brushed himself off and straightened up to his full height, tipping his head back defiantly to stare Axel down.

"The name's Roxas," the blond said.

And Axel was in love.

The elevator shuddered to a halt.

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><p>THIRTY MINUTES LATE, BUT HAPPY AKUROKU DAY!<p> 


End file.
